Stents or CABG

I have 3 vessel disease and some heart damage as a result of a heart attack...the options proposed are CABG with a 93 to 97% chance of sucess or stenting...extremely anxious  about surgery have no other health issues...is this high risk CABG? Thanks for you input  

[bulkmail1]

I have 3 Guidant chromium cobalt drug eluding stents in right coronary artery and main sub.  They have worked well for most part.  The surgery is a snap.  You are put under a local but really are half awake and half out.  When finished, they take you to recovery where you lay on your back for 3 to 8 hours (hardest part). The 3 hours is if they use a plug.  I have it both ways.  I prefer the plug. Then overnight in hospital.  Home the next morning.  Since I had mine inserted there has been a lot of noise about drug eluding stents.  I would study them very careful.  Seems like most reccomendations are for the old stents if placed in the heart as mine were.  My brother has had two bypass surgeries.  They take quite a while to recover.  Read all you can and ask your dr a lot of questions before deciding on what is best for your condition.  If all things are the same, I definitely would choose the stents.  But there may be a reason I'm not aware of for the bypass.  Again ask a lot of questions and check out your doctor on the internet.  Most states have a website for their medical board.  You can check to see if he has any history of confirmed problems.

[jim62]

I'd go with the cabg over the stents.  Sort of like cutting out the middle man.  Stents were a very short-term fix for me (and almost everybody I know).  My 3 lasted almost 2 months, and then we did the cabg.